Cycling is about "Safe exercise" and "Safe low-emission travel" The Health and Fitness objective is UNDERMINED if the means of exercise is UNSAFE! This blog STRONGLY OPPOSES certain reforms VicRoads is currently considering: “cyclists could be allowed to treat red lights as Give Way signs. And the same could also APPLY at pedestrian lights."
Also "PERMITTING cyclists, riding cautiously, to proceed past a stationary tram;" "allowing teenagers to ride on footpaths"(Herald Sun)PDowe

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Cycling & Walking Pedestrian Serious Injury Making it Easier to Ride Through Tram Stops Hit and Run Cyclist Negligence Community Safety

“If we go back historically I don’t believe St Kilda Rd - which carries essentially somewhere in the vicinity of 2,000 cyclists, but two million per annum tram users, and is the sixth most congested piece of the arterial road network - is the right place for bike priority.”Former Roads Minister, Tim PallasHerald Sun 5.3.2008

This blog strongly opposes certain reforms VicRoads is currently considering:

TramsRoad Rule: A bike rider must stop before passing the rearof a stopped tram at a tram stop. Once the tram doors are closed and pedestrians have crossed between the tram and kerb, the rider may then proceed to pass the tram.

Asked whether this would mean jailing cyclists, he replied: "If the actions of a cyclist were comparable to the actions of a driver, then yes".

His comments follow pleas for a hit-run cyclist who left a 62-year-old pedestrian in intensive care after crashing into him in the CBD yesterday to come forward.

Thornbury man Don McFadyen suffered multiple fractures, including a dislocated hip, when he was struck after getting off a tram in Swanston St near Bourke St about 5.15pm.

A witness today has suggested Mr McFadyen, who is in a serious condition in Royal Melbourne Hospital, walked around the front of the tram rather than on to the footpath on his left.

Mr Pallas refused to comment specifically on yesterday's case.

But he said cyclists should be held accountable and be heavily punished for serious offences.

However, he ruled out mass registration of bike riders.

The Government is considering cycling law changes over the coming year.

In yesterday's hit-run, the cyclist fell after the collision and was helped by a passer-by before he rode off.

Police are urging the cyclist, a man believed to be in his early 20s, who was on a blue metallic mountain bike, to contact them.

Mr McFadyen's wife Jenny also appealed to the cyclist to come forward.

"They didn't stop, which is amazing," she told 3AW radio. "They've got to have a conscience surely."

Debate over lenient treatment of cyclists raged after a rider on Melbourne's notorious Beach Rd Hell Ride who ran a red light and killed an elderly pedestrian was fined just $400.

Mr Pallas also said there were no plans to add new bike lanes to major roads around the inner city.

“If we go back historically I don’t believe St Kilda Rd - which carries essentially somewhere in the vicinity of 2,000 cyclists, but two million per annum tram users, and is the sixth most congested piece of the arterial road network - is the right place for bike priority.”